Hi! Guy who's done tax returns for professional hockey players here.
A pro athlete does not pay taxes in the same way that you, a person working a job in the same city every single day, does.
A pro athlete does not pay taxes in the same way that you, a person working a job in the same city every single day, does.
Hockey players pay taxes based on whatever jurisdiction they are in for that proportion of their salary. So, if you go on a quick road trip to play the Rangers and Islanders, you pay tax on the equivalent of 2-3 days of your salary in the state of NY.
A pro hockey players; tax return ends up including A TON of payments owed to individual states and cities. When they play in Canada, they get taxes at provincial rates on a similar proportion.
What that means in practice is that the tax advantages are somewhat mitigated by everybody paying reasonably similar blended tax rates on the 41 road games they play a season.
Somebody asked me about how signing bonuses impact that, and it's a good question that I don't know the answer to as signing bonuses weren't weaponized like they are know when I was in public accounting.
It does feel like an implicit advantage to no-tax locations, and it's probably one of three reasons why Bettman is imploring teams not to sign such bonus-laden contracts.
The other reasons being that signing bonuses fuck up escrow calculations, making it harder for the PA to get what it wants on that front, and also giving teams guaranteed money weakens your position going into a lockout.
Giving players guaranteed money, not teams. Way to stick that landing...
